Monday, October 28, 2013

Meet Mr. Bird

If you were to open up my photo gallery this very second, 5% of my photos would be inspirational quotes, 5% would be selfies, 10% would be food pictures [that I always forget to Instagram], and the remaining 80% would be this little devil. He's one of the biggest and most important parts of my life so I thought I would share my little nugget with all of you!

The [uber quick] Back Story: One day I was casually walking home from school, when I get a text from my asking me "Do you want him?" with an attached picture of this mangy, frail african grey parrot, something I've wanted for the longest time.

How'd we cross paths? He was a rescue; his previous owners put him in a cat carrier and brought him to the store my mom works at, hoping to donate him. The employee turned the old man down and instead of being a responsible citizen and finding another home for his bird, he shoved the cat carrier on a dog food shelf and walked out of the store.

That was February 2nd, 2012. That night, my mom hauled this little sad sack into the house and he's been by my side ever since.

Some questions I know I'm going to get: [I got you]

What kind of bird is he? An African Grey parrot.

How old is he? We don't know, but by the way he acts and goes through his yearly cycles [think Aunt Flo or whatever you want to call it], we've assumed he' s around my age, which makes him 15-17.

How long will he live? They can live up to, on average, be 80 years old. So we're going to be stuck together for quite a while.

What's wrong with his feathers? He's a compulsive feather plucker, which is common among greys. The mix of his most likely stressful and inadequate previous home situation left him with serious anxiety and separation issues.

Why doesn't he have a real name? He does. It's Mr. Bird. Bird for short. He's also referred to as Baby, Buddy, Nugget, Turd [don't ask], Bad, etc. His name is basically any adjective that describes him on a given day. And he responds to every one.

Does he talk? No, and he probably won't. These birds learn habits young and he was denied a proper environment to learn to talk.